Freeholders reject recovery center

By Danielle Camillistaff writer

Thursday

Jul 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 28, 2011 at 5:00 AM

?MOUNT HOLLY — The Burlington County Freeholder Board on Wednesday rejected a plan by a private hauler to build a material recovery center that would have accepted and processed demolition and construction waste on a site on Route 206 in Eastampton.

The board voted unanimously to deny the application of Omega Material Recovery of Eastampton to amend the county solid waste plan to include its proposed 13,500-square-foot center between Woodlane and Powell roads. Omega needed the amendment to seek approvals from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Omega, owned by waste hauler Gary Walker, wanted to open what would have been the county’s first material recovery station. The site would have accepted asphalt, masonry brick, drywall, soils, plastics, wood, cardboard and other items. Omega planned to accept and process 500 tons of waste daily, creating about 365 truck trips a day in and out of the facility on 2.63 acres, company officials said.

In an effort to address concerns, Omega agreed that before it would accept more than 350 tons a day it would come back before the county, giving staff a chance to assess operations and deal with any problems. Omega said it could take five or six years before the center was accepting 500 tons daily.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, an overflow crowd of residents who live near the site again turned out to oppose the project, saying they feared noise, traffic, water quality and other issues from the proposed project. At other meetings on the plan, the project found some support from construction industry professionals who spoke of a need for the facility and those who supported recycling the materials instead of dumping them in the landfill.

Freeholder Deputy Director Chris Brown said he believed Omega’s project was a good one and fulfilled a need in the county, but that Route 206, already saturated with traffic and failing, could not safely accommodate the center. He said the revised traffic plan Omega presented Wednesday after concerns were raised at a public hearing earlier this month did not allay his fears.

“The design doesn’t fit,” he said.

Brown also questioned whether the operation could be financially feasible under some of the conditions the county’s Solid Waste Advisory Council sought when it approved a recommendation to the freeholder board to approve the amendment.

While Omega presented information from other material recovery centers in the state that showed other facilities were on smaller sites but accepted more tonnage with few or no complaints, the crowd at the freeholder meeting remained firmly in opposition.

“Those facilities are not being sited in residential neighborhoods,” said Christine Hauser of Eastampton. “This is being shoehorned on this site.”

One nearby resident addressed the freeholders in tears, saying approving the amendment and clearing the way for Omega would be “devastating” for her family, including a special-needs child with sensory issues.

Omega attorney John Gillespie said his client had worked for years with county and Eastampton officials to bring the project to the freeholders. He said Omega has worked to mitigate impacts and would operate within all regulations.

“You don’t have a material recovery facility that your (solid waste) plan says that you should have,” he said. “There’s a balancing that can be achieved.”

Follow Us

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Burlington County Times ~ 116 Burrs Rd., Suite B, Westampton, NJ 08060 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service